


Withered

by 404Author_not_found



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Minecraft Youtubers, Sleepy Bois Inc., Video Blogging RPF
Genre: :), AU, Angst, Angst and Feels, Badass, Blood, Comfort, Everyone Needs A Hug, Family Dynamic, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Happy Ending, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, May or may not make you cry, Mentioned Ghostbur - Freeform, Near Death, No shipping, Nosebleed, Oneshot, POG Techno, Ph1lza - Freeform, Philza Minecraft is so Cool, Sleepy Bois Inc Angst, Sleepy Bois Inc. - Freeform, Sobbing, TechnoBlade, Toby Smith, Toby Smith | Tubbo Deserves Better, Tomathy - Freeform, Tommy angy and he yell, TommyInnit - Freeform, Tubbo - Freeform, Wilbur Soot - Freeform, minecraft youtubers - Freeform, philza minecraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29092725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/404Author_not_found/pseuds/404Author_not_found
Summary: Sleepy Bois Inc. are archeologists who discover a cool thingy that almost kills them :DTW // blood
Comments: 6
Kudos: 72





	Withered

“Hey guys, just a heads-up,” Philza called, “Sun’s going down so we’ll be turning in soon.”

Tommy groaned, frustrated. “Why did the ADults even let us have our own excavation if it’s boring the whole time?”

Wilbur picked up a dusty ochre rock and inspected it. “Do you even think we should bother bringing these back? They’re the exact same as all the other ones across the dig. Brittle, no minerals on the inside-” he dropped it. “What a waste of a day.”

Techno plopped himself in one of the stretchy chairs. “Maybe that was their point. I bet they gave us this little square on purpose thinking there’s nothing here for anyone to -ahem- mess up.”

“OKAY HOLD ON-” Tommy held out his hands to Techno, “that pot was already cracked and I was moving it VERY carefully before Wil tripped me!”

“I DID NOT!” Wilbur objected.

“No, it’s a complete coincidence that after that they moved us a mile away from the real ruins, where people actually lived and did stuff,” Techno yawned.

“Ok, Tommy probably lost us the chance for actually contributing to this excavation area, but at the next one we can all be a little more helpful.” Philza dug around in his backpack for the walkie-talkie. “We’re about a 20 minute walk for most of the other sites and our tents so I’ll report that we’re done and coming back for the night. Everyone clean up and get out your flashlights.”

“I think I picked the wrong career,” Tommy grumbled.

“Yeah you definitely did,” Techno commented with barely suppressed amusement.

Tommy glared at him but decided to take out his anger by shouting in the direction of camp, too far away to hear. “YOU BITCHES BETTER LET US DIG OVER THERE TOMORROW SO I CAN ACTUALLY FIND SOMETHING OR I’LL CALL MUM AND SHE’LL SUE YOU!!”

“Lovely,” Wil smiled. “Feel better?”

Tommy ignored him.

Philza tried the walkie-talkie but it didn’t turn on. “Batteries are drained. Who brought the spare batteries?”

Everyone looked at Techno. He raised his shoulders. “Don’t look at me, Tubbo said he would get them.”

Tubbo was in a shallow hole lining the marked out square they were digging in. He wasn’t paying attention. A faint “huh?” sounded as he recognized his name and poked his head up.

“Where are the batteries?!” Techno cupped his hands around his mouth.

“I put them in my pocket. Oh wait- hold on- my pockets are empty!” His mouth fell into an O.  
He quickly made sense of the situation. “OH ok it’s okay I didn’t lose them! I just wore my other pair of pants today.”

Techno chuckled and Philza silently put the walkie-talkie back in his bag as Tommy chided Tubbo, like he was apt to do.

“Wait, are we leaving?” Tubbo asked suddenly.

“Yeah, pack up your stuff,” Wilbur answered.

“But I think I found something,”

All motion stopped for a heartbeat, then everyone ran over to Tubbo’s little impression in the ocher earth.

“What did you find- lemme see- stop shoving-”

“Hey!” Tubbo defended his little discovery. “I get credit for this, ok?”

“Yeah yeah,” Wil gently moved him to the side, “What did you find?”

Tubbo had uncovered a shiny bit of rock embedded in the ground; it was a deep reflective black and the bit they could see was the size of a baseball.

“I think it goes deeper,” Tubbo commented.  
It was a question. They all looked at Phil.

Philza paused. Then he smiled, “Let’s get the lights out.”

They scattered to set up the stands for the wide floodlights, variously pumping fists and saying yesssssssss. 

About an hour later the darkness was pressing on the outside of their pool of light.  
They had uncovered much more of the “stone” and got quieter and quieter the more was revealed. Finally Philza brushed the last dust from the top of it and stepped back.

“It looks like a coffin,” Tubbo said.

“Yeah duh Tubbo,” Tommy scoffed. “Thanks for pointing that out.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Philza said to himself. “Why would it be all the way out here?”

“Aliens!” Tubbo’s eyes lit up.

“I don’t think it’s a coffin,” Wilbur decided. “Anyone rich enough to be buried in something like this would have had a chamber around it, old Egyptian pyramids, underground rooms, something like that.  
Besides, it is coffin-shaped, sorta, but the person would have to be like three meters tall. People in the past were definitely shorter than us, not taller, and not that tall.”  
“Not only that-” he rapped his knuckles on the side-“if there’s a dead body in this, they wouldn’t have left it out here in the middle of nothing, a mile away from where they lived.”

“Unless they were trying to get rid of it,” Techno muttered.

A chill breeze wouldn’t have been out of place at the moment, but nothing moved in the thick warm air.  
For the first time at a dig, they were a little spooked. 

Tubbo couldn’t help but do a quick glance around at the oppressive dark.

They had hoped for some recognition as budding young archeologists, but a trickle of fear snagged at the back of Tommy’s mind.  
He had half a mind to suggest they rebury it, but that was out of the question. Besides, Tommy wouldn’t give them any reason to call him a coward.

Techno, naturally amused at the mood his words had brought to the others, continued, “You know when a coffin’s not wood, when it’s stone, it’s called a sarcophagus. And the word for sarcophagus actually comes from Greek ‘sarkophagos’ which means ‘flesh-eating.’  
The phrase ‘lithos sarkophagos’ means flesh-eatin stone.”

Philza gave him a look.

Techno shrugged. “Just thought it was interesting.”

Wil crossed his arms in a Technoblade impression: “‘oooO I know fancy etymology things, I’m so impressive.’ You think this will eat my flesh Techno, if I lay my hand on the top like this?”

“No, but you’re definitely getting fingerprints on it.” Techno replied in his usual monotone.

Wilbur glared and took his hand off. Philza chuckled and Tommy snickered.

Tubbo was deciding between going into absolute panic or being bold and adventurous.

As he tended to do, he went for the second option and crouched down next to the head part of the sarcophagus, if that’s what it was.  
“We should open it.”

“Nooooooooo,” Wil said, lowering his voice with the word as Phil said the same thing with an upward inflection.

“Bad idea, mate.” Phil shook his head vigorously. “That does not sound like a good idea under any circumstances.”

“Afraid of mummies, Phil?” Techno jabbed.

“Let the big men handle this-”  
Tommy took matters into his own hands and shoved the lid off it.

The clatter was loud as it tumbled on the ground.

“Tommy you dipshit!” Wil scolded.

“Ah now you’ve done it.” Philza put his head in his hands.

“Oops-” Tommy winced. “I didn’t mean to push it all the way off okay?!”

“You shouldn’t have even-”

“Tommy.” Techno cut Wilbur off with his ‘serious voice.’ He was standing dramatically with the fingers of one hand spread over his temple.  
“Did you literally just push the lid off a delicate, centuries-old sarcophagus and expose everything in it to this uncontrolled environment?”

Tommy rolled his shoulders. “Uh yeah, Techno, catch up.”

“You know better than to pick a fight with me, Tommy, so I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that-”

“Bitch couldn’t even move that heavy lid if you tried, I bet.”

“OKAY YOU WANNA END UP IN THAT SARCOPHAGUS?!”

Tommy shrieked as Techno advanced threateningly on him.  
Techno stopped. “That’s what I thought.”

“Hey guys- you forgot really quickly about the whole, undiscovered-discovery, never-seen-in-centuries thing that Tommy knocked the top off.” Tubbo commented casually.

Philza had drifted next to him at the head and Wil positioned himself nearly a meter back from the feet, peering in curiously. Tommy had swiftly backed up from Techno, so the two of them were the farthest away.

“What is it?” Techno hung back, reluctant to damage anything, but the curiosity was eating at him.

Tommy had no such qualms, and he pushed his way next to Phil, who shoved him away uncharacteristically.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Tommy said, shocked.

Philza wasn’t listening, his hand was hovering just under where the lid had been. Unblinking, he was completely absorbed; his fingers were spread out like he was about to touch the inside.

Techno snuck close enough to glimpse it since Tubbo had forgotten to answer.  
Inside the long sarcophagus was a black skeleton.

It was really a very dark grey, and Wil was wrong, it was definitely taller than it should be.  
There wasn’t any skin or remains of organs. It didn’t even look that decayed; it was just well-preserved bones and soft black tendons connecting them in a few places, so the ribs curved up and the small joints of the long-fingered hands were connected.  
From the large dark skull to the stone sword nestled next to the body, it was the worst kind of unnatural.

Techno’s instincts told him to stay back, and he had learned long ago to listen to them.

“Phil, I wouldn’t” Wilbur coughed into his elbow and then continued, “You shouldn’t touch it.”

“I’m not touching it,” Philza murmured quietly. His left hand grasped the brim of the edge, and his right was roving centimeters over the bare bones.

Tubbo’s fingers whitened on the rim as his brow furrowed at Phil.  
“Dadza? You okay man?” He blinked slowly.

“He’s being selfish, that’s all.” Tommy brushed himself off and stood next to Wilbur, using him as a shield from Techno. He looked sternly at Phil. “Just because you’re the oldest doesn’t mean you can take all the credit for this.”

Tommy coughed suddenly and Wil waved a hand at him. “Stop it dude, I just felt your fucking spit on my arm.”

“Tommy help me put this back on.” Techno was straining with the heavy lid. “Wilbur- come on-”

Techno glanced up and saw the skull speckled with red drops, his eyes went higher and he saw Philza’s nose was bleeding. He dropped the lid and darted to him, gently gripping his shoulders from behind and pulling him back.  
“Whoa- hey, how about you just sit down and I’ll get the first aid kit.”

Wilbur started his hacking cough again, it was longer this time. He was pulling in vain on the lid where Techno left him. He sat to catch his breath, “fucking heavy thing.” 

“Tommy?” Tubbo’s faint voice asked.  
His face was deathly pale. 

Then he collapsed.

“Tubbo!” Tommy ran to him around the black stone as Tubbo’s legs folded and he fell sideways on the ground.

Technoblade resisted the urge to panic as his friends dropped like flies.

“Tubbo what is it- talk to me.” Tommy didn’t notice his own coughing as he knelt next to Tubbo and lifted him off the ground. “Come on Tubbo- talk, come on-”

“Tommy I feel-” Tubbo coughed- “really tired Tommy. Just.. let… me….”  
His voice trailed off as his eyes closed.

Techno pushed down fear and checked back with Phil, he had slumped from where Techno had sat him upright. And his nose was still bleeding a lot. The blood was unnaturally dark.  
Techno guided Philza’s arm to hold his sleeve up and stop the bleeding, but his mind raced around to the other three behind him.

“Wilbur!” He called without looking. Philza was out of it, his eyes were still fixed on the sarcophagus.  
“Wilbur c’mere.”

“I can’t,” came the muffled reply.

Wilbur was sat where Techno left him next to the coffin and the lid. His head was down on his knees and his arms were tucked in. 

“Yes, you can,” Techno insisted. “Stand up and walk it off.”

Wilbur lifted his head and stared sullenly at him with hollow eyes.  
“Did I ever mention I hate you?”  
To Techno’s relief, he followed this statement with a great effort to heave himself to his feet, using the side of the coffin for support.

“...techno.” Philza’s voice drew Techno’s gaze back to him immediately. He must’ve snapped out of it because his eyes were focused on Techno, but he was confused and spoke slowly. “Why am I… on the ground?”

Techno’s heart sank as Phil coughed. It was echoed behind him by Wilbur shuffling over and Tommy still hugging Tubbo.

“I feel really bad Techno, like my chest- and it hurts. Help-”

“I don’t know what to do,” Techno said helplessly. “What should I be doing?”

“I dunno,” Phil sighed, then cough violently. “Something.”

“Great leadership as always, Philza Minecraft,” Techno muttered as Phil blinked drowsily.

Wilbur finally plopped down heavily next to Techno. “Whatdoya want agan?”

Techno looked him over. Maybe it was the blue floodlights, but Wilbur looked ghostly pale.  
He quickly distracted him: “Help Phil however you can, I’m going to get the first aid kit.”

He didn’t really think it would help, but he didn’t know what to do. 

“You’re too hard on me, why can’t I just lie down.. unfair.”  
Wilbur sighed and bent over the slowly-passing-out Philza.

Techno pushed himself to his feet. “Tommy.”

Tommy was the same as before, trying to get Tubbo to talk to him, but he was unresponsive.

Techno quickly took Tubbo’s pulse: it was slow, and so was his breathing. 

Tommy coughed into his elbow and looked at Techno numbly. “What’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know.” How was he supposed to know everything? “Pull him back from that-” he gestured at the sarcophagus.

Tommy’s dead eyes followed his hand. Then he weakly dragged Tubbo towards the nearest floodlight.

Techno pushed himself to his feet and rushed over to search through the bags for the first aid kit. He noticed what felt like a rock in his windpipe and tried not to cough.  
That’s not good.

He found the first aid kit and delivered it to Wil, unable to stop himself from coughing once.

Tommy called him. His voice was a little less faint than Wilbur’s.

Techno sat next to him and Tubbo under the floodlight. He noticed two red lines running down from Tubbo’s nose. 

“Is this my fault.” Tommy asked. 

The honest part of Techno screamed yes, but he answered, “You didn’t know this would happen.”  
He tried to clear his throat again but it was no use.

Tommy gazed at Tubbo lying motionless. He gently leaned down and touched his forehead to his. He squeezed his eyes shut and a few tears ran down his cheeks.

“He’s dying.”

How did all this happen so fast? Techno resisted another wracking cough that twisted his lungs. Wilbur distantly called his name and he left Tommy for the moment.

The others were not doing good. Philza was lying unconscious on his side and his blood looked black. His sleeves were tucked up next to his heart, one of them stained dark red from his nosebleed.

Wilbur was facing him, head resting on one bent arm. He was too tired to sit up anymore, but he was still awake.  
He obligingly lifted his arm to show it to Techno. “Look.”

The tips of Wilbur’s fingers were black.

Techno gingerly held it to look closer; he realized his own hands were trembling. Wilbur’s whole body shook with another cough.  
The black swallowed more of his pale complexion.

“Does it hurt?” Techno asked. What a stupid question.

“Yes.” Wil coughed. He brought his hand back to the ground. “I lost my beanie.” He was sad.

Techno picked it up from where it had fallen behind Wil and gently placed it on his head. “Better?”

“Better.”  
He half-smiled, sadly. 

Techno heard Tommy make a noise halfway between a whine and a sob. He felt like his heart was breaking.  
Wil coughed again.

“Phil’s dying by the way.” Wilbur shifted his eyes to him and then back to Techno. “It’s more on his arm. I tried everything. I even stabbed him with the EpiPen- nothing.” His voice was low and bitter.  
He brushed at his nose with dead fingers.

Techno lifted Phil’s sleeve and saw the poison leeching the color out of his skin all the way up to his elbow.

Another glance at Wilbur showed it covering his hand.

Suddenly Tommy screamed.

“TUBBO’S NOT BREATHING!”

Techno fell down on all fours next to them. His head felt like exploding.

Tubbo was still. Tommy was the opposite of still, holding Tubbo to his chest and rocking back and forth mumbling pitifully.

Tubbo had the disease covering his arms almost to the shoulder; it was on Tommy’s hands also.

“DO SOMETHING!” Tommy shouted, caught between screaming and begging.

Techno pushed himself to his feet one last time. He had less than five minutes before Tubbo started actually dying. He stumbled to the side and kicked a bag. Their stuff couldn’t help. The sickness wasn’t normal.  
His eyes fell on the crystal black coffin resting innocently on the chalky earth.

His eyes stung and he coughed against the stuff suffocating him from the inside.  
His hands started tingling and he held them up to his face.

His fingertips were brushed with black, like he had smeared coal on them. But it wouldn’t rub off. 

He reached out for the coffin and fell against it. He pulled himself up, panting.  
He was definitely too weak to lift the lid. It was doubtful that closing it would help now anyway. Whatever it was had poisoned them through the air right after Tommy opened it, because they had all touched the outside when uncovering it.

He looked at the long black skeleton and cursed it in his head, all too aware of the seconds ticking by, single file.

“Technoooo…”  
Wilbur was calling him again, but he couldn’t quit. 

“Hold on Wil-” Techno rummaged his hands through the deep brown fabric under the skeleton and around the sword.

He thought briefly about chopping up the bones with the sword, but if that was effective it would have already been done.  
His chest heaved as another cough attacked him.

“technoooooooo” Wilbur drew out his name in a hoarse voice. Techno spared a second to look at him. 

Wilbur had dragged himself around to look at Techno clearly. His stained hands were splotched with dark blood from his nose and it was starting to drip black down his cheek. 

He coughed weakly and looked at Techno with sorrowful eyes.  
“You were a great friend to me Technoblade.”

“Shut up- don’t do that. You’re going to be fine.” Techno noticed blood dripping from his nose and wiped it away impatiently.

Wil slowly reached up and pulled off his beanie. He balled it in his bloodied hands and clasped it next to his heart. He let out a dry laugh. “‘Imagine having a canon death.’ Wonder if I’ll come back as Ghostbur, remember that joke Techno?”

Techno couldn’t stand to look at him anymore, he slumped against the smooth pitch surface and coughed. His body felt too heavy for his legs to hold up and every breath was painful. His hands looked like he dipped them in tar.

“I know you’re too busy to give me a hug Techno.” Wilbur’s voice was fading away. “But can you sing one of my songs to me please?”

“No.” Techno grunted. “You’re not dying.”

“Please techno.”

Techno didn’t, so Wilbur closed his eyes and started humming the first lines of ‘Internet Ruined Me’ softly to himself.  
“...hope I see you in the next place… miss you if I don’t.”

Wilbur’s humming faded away.

Techno’s heart broke.

“Wilbur? Tommy?”  
Wilbur was out. Tommy was lying silent with his head on Tubbo’s chest.

It was up to Techno, but he was unfit.

He sank down against the dark stone, violently coughing.  
He looked around one last time at his friends, his family.

Wil looked almost peaceful, if it wasn’t for the blood smeared on his hands and some of his face.  
Techno couldn’t really see Philza from his vantage point, but he glimpsed black skin creeping up his neck.  
Tubbo was deathly still; Tommy was lying halfway over him with some of Tubbo’s shirt still clutched in his fists.

Techno couldn’t resist coughing again. It hurt.

He regretted not singing to Wilbur.

Finally with a monumental effort he pulled himself up and clung to the bottom end of the sarcophagus. He wouldn’t give up until he blacked out.  
Maybe there was still some kind of cure

provided by the enemy himself. _Sun Tzu don’t fail me now._

In the vain hope Wilbur could still hear and might forgive him, Techno started singing in a low voice.  
“Now I’m 26 and I work in an office.  
9 til 5’s not the best I’ll be honest-”

He finally got to the foot of the coffin.  
His numb hands felt around the dull fabric-  
“If I could change a sin-gle thing,  
I’d make it… me and not... him.”

Techno stopped. He was tired and starting to get overwhelmed. 

Then he felt a hidden bundle under the fabric and yanked it up. 

A few small bottles were nestled in the corner; they were glass and round, with a bright red liquid inside. 

Techno’s legs gave way under him and he fell suddenly  
_Fuck-_

He just had to reach up and grab one.  
But his arms felt like lead.  
Techno groaned. Why me.

He pushed himself up as much as he could and felt around without looking.  
Finally he slumped down again with a glass bottle in his palm.

Dark blood dripped on it; he wiped it off.  
He sighed tiredly and coughed.

Spots dotted the edge of his vision as he slowly rotated the bottle and watched the bright red liquid swirl around.  
Might as well just down it. 

Worst case was that everyone else was just temporarily out and he was killing himself drinking dangerous substances, but-

He lifted his eyes to Tommy and Tubbo, then Phil and Wilbur. Actually the worst case was just nothing happening.

Still, time to stop wasting time. He pulled the cork-lid-thing off what he hoped was a magical potion. It looked like blood.  
Ever one for humor, Techno lifted it slightly in Wil’s direction like a toast.  
“Blood for the blood god,” he murmured.

Then he chugged it.

_Tastes like licorice._  
Techno leaned his head back, exhausted. 

He felt himself slipping into darkness, his last thought was _So much for ‘Technoblade never-_

“-DIES!” Techno jolted awake. He remembered in a half-second and bizarrely felt like laughing. _YES!! TECHNO NEVER DIES!!!_

He may have still been in pain, but his body flooded with relief.

Gradually his breathing got easier.  
His heartbeat returned unto normal.  
He exhaled slowly and watched the black fade away from his skin.

 _Tubbo, Phil_  
Techno quickly stood, steadily recovering his strength. He couldn’t know if he had been unconscious for a few seconds or minutes. He gathered the remaining bottles in his arms- wait  
_No_

There were only three.

 _No nononononono_  
Techno frantically searched for just one more, ripping the fabric and jostling the skeleton; he examined the whole thing and found nothing. There was nothing. Not enough.

Not enough.

What… _what do I do?_

He didn’t have time. He couldn’t stand there and pick one of his friends to die. He wouldn’t- what options were there-

What options-

Maybe they didn’t need to drink the whole thing. But what if that didn’t work and then they lost two?  
_Didn’t sign up for a goddamn trolley problem. Fuck there’s no tiiiiiiiiiime_

He made his way to Philza and Wil and dropped the things on the ground. He was trying to stay calm. Trying.

Phil’s pulse. He found it; it was faint, but there.  
He was a terrible sight. Blood ran down his head and the black poison covered his arms and half his face. Techno pulled his torso up and shoved the cure down his throat.

He made sure Phil wasn’t choking and tried to place his head so it was elevated.  
Now Wil.

Wil was not much better, but there was less on him than Philza.  
His soft dark curls framed his head and matched the disease creeping from his hands up his neck. 

Techno could see him still breathing lightly, so he didn’t bother wasting time with his pulse and lifted up his head.

Wil opened his eyes.

Techno nearly dropped him from shock.

His eyes were pitch black, like the pupil had swallowed everything.  
Wil opened his mouth but no sound came from his lips.

“Shhhhhh. You’re gonna be okay. Drink this, okay?” Techno couldn’t be sure if Wilbur was looking at him, but he took the top off the potion and poured it in Wil’s mouth as carefully but quickly as possible, glancing over at Tommy and Tubbo.

“I’m leaving for just a second, but I’ll come back, okay? You’ll be okay, Wil.”  
Wilbur closed his eyes again and Techno gently laid him back down.

As he ran to the last two he heard Philza stirring, a good sign.

Then he stopped. Techno was standing above Tommy and Tubbo. The last healing vial in his hand.

Tubbo had been without oxygen for at least several minutes. It was likely he had serious brain damage, if he survived.  
Tommy wasn’t clearly breathing, but his pulse was stronger.

Techno roughly pulled Tommy off Tubbo’s chest and set them shoulder to shoulder, then paused.

 _This is awful. This is actually terrible._ How was he supposed to just choose? If he gave each of them half and neither woke up, he would never forgive himself for missing the chance to revive one.  
But either one he gave it to would probably hate him for abandoning the other.

Tommy was younger, barely. Had more of his life ahead of him. But that wasn’t fair, they were practically the same age. Tommy was an idiot; it was directly his fault.  
But Techno couldn’t shake the picture of tears falling from his cheeks as he pressed his forehead to Tubbo’s.

He looked at Tommy, half-dead, blackness crawling up his jaw. And he felt that Tommy, selfish as he was, would want him to heal Tubbo.  
But Tubbo was selfless; he would be guilty forever and it would drive him insane. But Tommy would be lost missing Tubbo.  
Both of them would be devastated and self-destructive.  
Techno loathed everything about where he was. But time time time-

He closed his eyes and raised his arm and threw the potion on both of them. It shattered and evaporated instantly.

Then Techno fell to his knees.

_It’s over._

He stared at the ground and sighed heavily.  
If he killed them both, then he killed them both. There were no more potions. 

“T- techno?”

Techno’s eyes lit up. “WIL?”

Wilbur was standing. Techno leapt up and tackle-hugged him.

He laughed. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”  
Wil hugged him back. “I’m okay.”

“Awww am I getting left out of the hug party?” Philza sat up.

“DADZA!!” They crouched down and included him in the hugging.

Hugging was unusual Technoblade behavior, but he was so relieved at the moment he didn’t mind it; it was comforting. They were safe. Alive.  
Bloodied, but alive.

Philza stood back up finally as the last bit of darkness faded from his face. “Where’s Tubbo, and Tommy?”

“Over here- but they…” Techno froze. Neither of them had moved.  
Philza and Wilbur stopped next to him. 

No, no, no no no. It was because they were last, that was it. It just took a while. ‘S fine.

Techno nudged Tommy’s side.  
C’mon c’mon c’mon Tommy, come on.

“Are they…” Phil whispered. _Dead?_

“They can’t be,” Wil refused.

Techno just sat and stared at them.

He inhaled sharply. _Did Tubbo just move his hand?_

Tommy slowly blinked his eyes open and focused on Tubbo, since he was directly in front of his face.

“Tubbo?” He asked hoarsely. He moved over and shook him.

“Mmm five more minutes,” Tubbo mumbled.

“Tubbo!” Tommy cried with relief and hugged him tightly.  
Tubbo opened his eyes and was confused. Tommy was almost strangling him with happiness. “Oh my- oh my GOD! Tubbo.”

“Oh you’re hugging me. Why are you so excited? What’s on your face. Hold on- what’s on my hands. Why are you guys staring at us?”

“JEsUS chRIst!” Phil put a hand on his forehead. “I was so worried for a second, holy shit.”

Wil breathed a loud sigh of relief.

Techno hadn’t cried in years, but he actually felt tears pricking at his eyes. He was so overwhelmed by everything that just happened and the emotions rushing through him. He blinked quickly.  
It doesn’t matter. They’re alive.

The infection was gradually fading from Tommy’s face as he looked up at them. “What the hell are you guys gawking at?”

“You just hugged me,” Tubbo pointed out. 

Tommy pushed him away. “Well it was only because I thought you died.” He brushed himself off.

Tubbo laughed at Tommy’s quick defense. “Alright, that’s fair. So what happened?”

Wil shrugged. “Idk ask Techno.”

“Uhhhh.” Techno swallowed with all their eyes on him.  
“I genuinely have no idea.”

A rumbling sounded from behind them.

They turned around to see the black sarcophagus sinking into the ground like quicksand. 

They backed up speedily and after a few seconds the edges of it disappeared into the ground. The lid, which had been supported by the side, slid into the hole and an echoing clatter told them it settled on the top again. The rumbling faded away gradually and the pit closed.

“Well…” Tubbo broke the silence-

“Let’s hope it went all the way to hell this time.”

Philza burst out laughing and the others chuckled too.

Tubbo grinned at them laughing around him, “But I am serious though.”

“Ah, god.” Philza wiped his eyes. “What the fuck.”

Wilbur made a sarcastic half-pained, half-resolute face. “Let’s all agree to never speak of this again, yes?”

“Yep,” Tubbo agreed immediately, followed by Tommy’s “yeah” and Philza’s “Probably best.”

Techno briefly considered the possibility of its discovery in the distant future with no cure available. Then he just shrugged and figured the future archeologists wouldn’t have Tommy to fuck things up.  
“Yeeeeeeeeeeep, time to ditch this place.” 

He started picking up the brushes and tools so they could leave; the others followed suit.  
After a few short minutes they turned off the floodlights and switched on their flashlights and made their way across the dim, dusty plateau to camp.

It was remarkably casual, maybe because they each figured cheating death wasn’t something one did twice a day. Tubbo wasn’t even scared of the dark, although he did walk in the middle of the group next to Tommy. They chatted and made fun of each other, laughter ringing out into the empty dark.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked that! It was really fun to write and I wanted to do something with the Sleepy Bois.
> 
> Subscribe to Technoblade


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